If Glow & Behold detailed the tumultuous break up period for YUCK, then Stranger Things sees the band reach a positively fresh stage of letting go.

It's been a rocky road for London garage-pop foursome, YUCK, since their inception less than a decade ago. Their self-titled debut album deserves to be on the record shelf of every self-respecting indie kid. Though it's arguably unoriginal in style, its fuzzed out melodies encapsulated that peculiar yet brilliant kind of melancholic guitar music, brimming with youth, teen-angst and heartfelt sincerity. Harking back to the lo-fi '90s scene led by Dinosaur Jr, Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer, they managed to refashion the American grunge-pop sound and succeeded where many copycat bands have failed to make an impact.

What followed were line-up changes and a topsy-turvy trail of rock and roll misadventures. After the departure of founding member and frontman Daniel Blumberg in 2013, the band released their stress-fuelled sophomore album, Glow & Behold. A few years later, YUCK are back again, this time more confident, content and in control, and ready to reveal their third full-length offering, Stranger Things. Recorded mostly at home and on a budget, singer Max Bloom explains, "...this record is all us--it is everything that we owned and everything that we had. It was just a record that was made completely on our terms."

What YUCK do best is to create emotionally laden songs that positively ache with nostalgia and manage to be uplifting in their pensiveness. Lead single 'Hearts in Motion' is no exception. It explores how we deal with relationships and speaking of the song, Bloom says, "We're all just blasting through space on a huge rock, so what's the point in maintaining a relationship? Is it all just doomed to failure, or is it the one thing that we should be holding on to the most in this world? Who knows!"

Following the unbreakable guitar-bass-vocals-drums formula, Stranger Things is heavy with distortion, in signature YUCK style. There are scuzzed up guitars on 'Hold Me Closer' and 'Cannonball', glorious pop hooks on 'Only Silence' and lilting melodies on 'Swirling' and 'Down'. The songs dissect friendships, relationships and the anxiety that goes with them. 'As I Walk Away' hears bassist Mariko Doi successfully take the lead on the vocals, whilst standout track 'I'm Ok' is a deeply personal track for Bloom, one that purges his anxieties concerning the not so distant past and his experiences with the band.

Unlike its predecessor, the new album is expressed with a confident ease rather than pent up frustration. If Glow & Behold detailed the tumultuous break up period for YUCK, then Stranger Things sees the band reach a positively fresh stage of letting go. It's onwards and upwards from here on in.

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